Pakistan minister resigns over controversial interview

Pakistani minister Mushahidullah Khan resigned on Saturday following a controversial interview to BBC Urdu in which he alleged that a top intelligence official had encouraged last year`s street protests.

Islamabad: Pakistani minister Mushahidullah Khan resigned on Saturday following a controversial interview to BBC Urdu in which he alleged that a top intelligence official had encouraged last year`s street protests.

Khan during his interview alleged that a former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency had encouraged street protests last year, which Information Minister Pervez Rashid termed "irresponsible and contrary to the facts", BBC reported.

A military spokesman said the allegations were "totally baseless".

Khan, who serves as climate change minister, said that during last year`s street protests led by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and cleric Tahirul Qadri, the then head of the ISI, Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam had spoken about a plot to unseat the country`s military and civilian leadership.

Relations between Pakistan`s civilian governments and the military have often been tumultuous, with three coups since independence. Nawaz Sharif`s government took office after Pakistan`s first ever civilian transfer of power.